Ep 471 | Improving Your Mindset Through Identity Based Motivation

Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick, and welcome to the No Days Off podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. Just yesterday, we were talking about Peter Diamandis's 4 key areas of health. And just a quick review, if you haven't listened to that episode, or go back and listen to that episode, The 4 key areas were mindset, diet/nutrition, exercise, and sleep. Diet— I'm sorry, mindset, diet, exercise, and sleep. These are the 4 key areas of health. So when you're looking or thinking about your health, these are the 4 areas that Peter Diamandis would tell us to focus on and make improvements in, and they all are correlated to one another. Today, I wanna dig a little bit deeper into mindset. Now, when Peter talks around mindset, what he's really referring to is maintaining a mindset of abundance and gratitude, a positive mindset, right? Set big goals and have meaning and direction in your life. And leverage things like meditation or mindfulness or whatever it is that you can do to reduce your stress. Now, those are kind of some of the core practices, the key practices within mindset. But one thing I wanna focus on today something I've been thinking a lot about as of late, is what we'll call identity-based motivation. Identity-based motivation. So what is identity-based motivation and how can you leverage it to improve your mindset? So identity-based motivation is this theory that suggests that people are more likely to take actions that align with their perceived identity. So, for example, if you see yourself as a voter, so if you say, you know, I am a voter, I see myself as a voter, you're more likely to vote because it aligns with who you believe you are, not just what you do. So this study that was done about a decade, about 15 years ago, showed that framing voting as being a voter rather than just simply voting So being a voter, I am a voter, rather than I, you know, I'm going to vote, it increased voter turnout. So this subtle shift reinforces identity rather than the action alone. Another example would be, I am a healthy person. Studies will show that when you perceive yourself, when your identity is one of a healthy person, you are more likely to to take actions that align with being a healthy person. Make sense? So, this is identity-based motivation. Now, there's neuroscience and habit formation behind this. Repeatedly aligning your actions with a positive identity, it strengthens, and here's the science, it strengthens the neural pathways in the brain. And when you strengthen the neural pathways in the brain, it creates habits. And over time, these actions begin to feel natural, and it's like this reinforcing self-concept. Now, this matters a ton for mindset. Specifically, it matters for a positive mental state, and I believe that with a positive mental state, you ultimately are a healthier person. When your actions align with how you see yourself, it fosters this, this sense of authenticity. It, it gives you this degree of confidence. There's congruency here, right? This congruence is vital for your mental well-being. So again, if you're thinking of yourself as a, as a kind person, it can motivate you to do things that are kind for others. If you think of yourself as a humorous or funny person, it can motivate you to incorporate humor more into your world. It reinforces both the behavior and the identity. Again, a healthy person can, you know, thinking of yourself as a healthy person can motivate you to exercise. It can motivate you to eat well. This is the reinforcement of both the behavior and the identity. Now, it also increases your motivation. It increases your resilience. So when it's tied to identity, actions become more meaningful and they become more intrinsic. So you're less likely to give up, in other words, when facing challenges, because it's just not about doing something, it's about being true to who you are. Again, I'm gonna use health as an example. If I perceive myself as a healthy person, and I've told myself repeatedly, you are, or Brian, you are a healthy person, I am a healthy person, my actions become more meaningful and intrinsic. I'm less likely to give up on my health goals because it's just not about, performing these exercise, for example, it's about being true to who I believe I am. So there's this, this positive feedback loop. When I act in line with a positive identity, it generates small wins and these small wins compound and they build self-esteem. If you identify yourself as a hard worker that, that, that takes initiative, you are more likely to be a hard worker that takes initiative. And this results in success, and this further reinforces the identity. So how do you incorporate this into our— in your world? What's the practical application of all this? You probably already figured out— figured it out already. You've got to reframe your identity. Start using what I would call "I am" statements. To shape your self-concept. For example, instead of saying, I want to eat healthy, say, I am someone who values health. Instead of saying, I want to save money, start saying, I am a financially responsible person. Think around that. There's so many places in your world just today or this week where you're gonna say, I want to fill in the blank. I want to be this, I want to be that. And I'm challenging you to stop doing that and start saying, I am such and such person. I am, you know, I am this identity. And you start to create this new identity for yourself. Now you gotta focus on consistency. Small, consistent actions that align with the identity help cement it. So even voting, if I go back to the original example, even voting once makes you more likely to continue identifying as a voter. And if you can encourage others around you to adopt, to adopt this identity-focused language, it will only aid in the process. So, for example, refer to your team members as leaders or refer to them as innovators. And not surprisingly, you're likely to inspire those qualities in them. Think about it. If you start referring to the people within your world, your team members, as leaders, presenting them as leaders, talking to them as leaders, using that language like, "You're a leader here, so I expect blah blah blah," just saying those things over and over again inspires those qualities, cements that behavior. And I think all of this, in summary, in my opinion, it can be really transformational. Now, many of you may not be buying into this just yet, but I'm just challenging you to give it a shot. Because by defining yourself positively, you kind of— you set a foundation for meaningful growth. You set a foundation for resilience. This is a shift from doing to being. It changes how you interpret setbacks. It makes these setbacks just challenges rather than failures. And this mindset can create lasting habits that transform your behavior and, and your outlook on life. And to circle back to what— where we started, Peter's telling us mindset is one of the 4 critical areas of health. I could not think of a better way to promote a more positive mindset than to embrace this, this, this identity-based motivation, this identity focus, this self-perception focus. Try it out today and let me know how it goes. That's all I have for you today. The No Days Off Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it. [MUSIC] [MUSIC]